Study by AOL’s Platform-A and OMD Finds
that Today’s ‘Supermoms’
Pack 27 Hours of Activities Into 16-Hour Waking Day

September 22, 2008 07:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The new trend in superpowers may be the ability to create time. At least
that’s what the “Supermoms”
are doing. Today’s moms have become champion
multi-taskers who are using mobile phones, the Internet and other media
to help them pack 27 hours of activities –
including eight hours spent with media – into
16 hours of waking time each day, according to a new study by AOL’s
Platform-A and global communications agency OMD. The study, called “Living
La Vida Rapida: Today’s Parents Living a
Double Life at Double Time,” explored online
moms’ lifestyles and media preferences, as
well as how advertisers and marketers can leverage these insights to
communicate with them more effectively. Platform-A, http://www.platform-a.com,
is AOL’s digital advertising business.

The 27-Hour Day

The survey of more than 7,000 moms around the world found that the
average online mom has become a master multi-tasker, conducting a
combined 27 hours of activities in a single day –
including work, family, surfing the Internet, chores, eating, shopping
and so on.

These moms reported spending eight hours a day using media, including
2.6 hours on the Internet, 2.1 hours watching television, 1.2 hours
listening to the radio and half an hour each day spent with newspapers,
magazines and games.

Moms rely on the Internet for task-oriented parenting. Parenting is the
No. 1 online activity cited by moms, ahead of search, e-mail and news.
More than half (58%) said they prefer the Internet for getting parenting
information and advice, and 55% said they preferred the Internet as a
resource for helping their children learn. Nearly three quarters of moms
(73%) say that it’s important for them to
monitor what their children do online.

Moms also rely heavily on the Internet for a variety of other tasks,
such as shopping (79% cite the Internet as the preferred medium),
getting information (71%) and finding coupons or sales (52%).

“The increasing significance of the Internet
to moms will only continue, given that younger moms who come from a
generation that grew up with the Internet are reporting much higher
levels of usage than older moms,” said Anne
Hunter, Vice President of Platform-A’s
ADlytics group.

Single moms spend significantly more time with media –
an average of 9.5 hours per day – versus moms
who have a spouse or partner (7.9 hours per day). Similarly, lower
income mothers spend roughly an hour more (8.9 versus 8.0 hours per day)
with media than middle- and higher-income moms.

When it comes to personal time, moms report spending just 1.4 hours of
that 27-hour day on themselves.

Other findings

Most online moms (86%) report being the primary household decision
maker, making them an important target audience for marketers and
advertisers. More than half (52%) say they tend to recommend good
products and / or brands to others.

The vast majority of moms (95%) use at least one type of media with
their children once a week. TV is the most common medium moms share with
their children (79%), followed by the Internet (62%), mobile phone
(58%), digital camera (48%), e-mail (38%) and games (33%).

Despite their many responsibilities, these moms tend not to see
themselves as “Supermoms.”
In fact, just 38% described themselves as a “super
mom.”

Emotional connections with media

The survey also found that moms have strong emotional associations with
different media, which can impact the effectiveness of ads targeted at
these moms.

Television and radio primarily evoke “entertained”
and “relaxed”
feelings.

Magazines evoke “interested”
and “relaxed”
emotions.

Newspapers evoke “focused”
and “interested”
feelings.

Online search is related to feelings of “task-oriented,”“focused” and “interested.”

Web sites often related to “entertainment.”

“One implication of the study findings is
that in order to maximize an advertisement’s
impact and effectiveness to moms, it must not only be relevant but also
reach moms through media they trust and in contexts where they are
receptive to the messaging. For example, TV, radio, newspaper and
certain forms of new media register high trust and ad acceptability
ratings,” said Mike Hess, Global Director of
Communication Insights and Research at OMD. “It’s
also important for marketers to consider how moms use various media.
They look to the Internet and magazines for parenting information and
advice, and TV, magazines and the Internet are most likely to influence
purchases across a variety of categories.”

For moms there is also a high correlation between ad acceptance and
trust in the medium, providing a tremendous opportunity for marketers to
maximize the impact of their advertising.

Methodology

In 2008, OMD and Platform-A partnered with Ipsos to conduct qualitative
and quantitative research with online moms around the world. More than
7,000 moms ages 18+ with home Internet access in 13 countries throughout
the Americas, Europe and Asia/Pacific were surveyed about their personal
values, family dynamics, purchase habits and advertising preferences in
order to gain insight into the reality of being a parent in today’s
society, the role of media in parenting and how that differs around the
world.

About Platform-A

Platform-A, AOL’s advertising business, is
the industry’s largest digital advertising
platform, offering the most comprehensive suite of marketing solutions,
powered by the Web’s best advertising
technologies. Platform-A includes AOL’s
leading media properties – AOL.com, AIM,
MapQuest, and more – and Advertising.com’s
third-party networks. Platform-A also includes TACODA’s
audience insights and behavioral targeting; Quigo, a site- and
content-targeting solution; ADTECH, an international digital ad serving
business; Third Screen Media, a mobile ad serving network; and buy.at,
an affiliate marketing solution. Platform-A currently has operations in
the United States, nine countries across Europe, including Denmark,
Finland, France, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, the UK,
and Japan through a joint venture with Mitsui. Learn more at http://www.platform-a.com.

About OMD

OMD Worldwide, http://www.omd.com,
is one of the largest and most innovative media communications
specialists in the world, with more than 140 offices in 80 countries.
Named Most Creative Agency in the World by The Gunn Report for Media in
2007, OMD also had the distinction of being named Media Agency of the
Year and winning a Gold Lion and two Bronze Lions at the 2007 Cannes
International Advertising Festival. The agency network is a unit of
Omnicom Group Inc.